Occasional trouble starting

[jonnythan]

Yesterday, after riding my bike home from work (20 minutes, 10 miles), I stalled the bike out trying to get it parked correctly on the back porch. No problem. I pulled the clutch in and hit the starter to start it back up...

.. But the starter kinda slowly chugged like the battery was dead. I let it sit for a second and tried again, but the starter chugged even harder and just stopped making noise. Sounded to me like the battery was dead, so I grabbed my multimeter.... the battery is fine. I had stuff to do so I left it overnight.

This morning, the air was chilly, so I tried starting it up. Came right up, but I forgot to put the choke on so it died in about 2 seconds. Put the choke on, and it chugged a bit... but it just barely started up, so I rode it to work.

Once I got to work, I stalled it out again trying to park it. I tried to start it up, wondering if I'd have the same problem. Chug, chug.... dead.

I can't even begin to imagine where I'd start looking to diagnose this. Suggestions?

[storysunfolding]

Did you hook up the multimeter and get a reading while you were trying to start it or just get a reading for the battery at rest?

[jonnythan]

Did you hook up the multimeter and get a reading while you were trying to start it or just get a reading for the battery at rest?

Very good point.. it was just while at rest.

What should I expect to see when there is a load on the battery? How low is too low?

[storysunfolding]

Tell us what it hits. My guess is that it's going to get near 10 or lower and you'll know for sure that it's a bad battery

[jonnythan]

I hooked up the voltmeter. 12.4 volts.

I turned the key and the light came on. 10.3 volts.

I hit the Start button. 5 volts.



I can't believe I didn't check that yesterday.

[bluemonkie99]

Right on